MINISTERS are coming under increasing pressure to deal with fake news after internet trolls flooded social media platforms with bogus messages about missing people and false developments in the wake of the Manchester Arena atrocity.
Images and posts widely shared across Twitter included false photos of the scene and claims that terrorists had posted online warnings in the hours leading up to the suicide bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert which claimed the lives of 22 - including children.
One picture circulated on Twitter and Instagram which went viral purported to show bloodied Ariana Grande looking distraught backstage in the wake of the blast.
But it has since emerged the photo was from two years ago and was taken nowhere near Manchester. It was actually shot in New Orleans while the singer was on the set of the TV show Scream Queens - and the red smears on her face were from fake blood.
Another picture, said to be from a parent desperately searching for their son garnered more than 14,000 retweets on Twitter and hundreds offered advice and assistance to Manchester authorities.
But it emerged the picture is of a YouTube user who goes by the name ReportOfTheWeek.
The same Twitter account then tweeted about people "still praying for my son" with a laughing emoji.
The account has since been suspended.
Other clickbait cons calculated to gain an audience included pictures claiming to show the aftermath of the slaughter that actually showed a training exercise several years ago.
The hoaxes, which were posted alongside real requests for help from family members looking for missing loved ones, raised concerns that it would lead to confusion and help hinder legitimate searches.
Tom Felle, lecturer in news and digital journalism at City, University London said the Manchester news cons highlighted the need for government action to force social media platforms to deal with fake news, whose goal is to profit through clickbait. In some cases 'likes' or shares can give criminals access to personal data, he said.
"The real reason for fake news is money and profit. Social media companies' algorithms drive huge traffic to the pedlars of fake news and that has to stop. That's the big problem with fake news. It's very profitable to be in the fake news business," he said.
"Any day of the week you will find some baby in a hospital bed with feed tubes through the nose and there will be a parent saying that my daughter is looking for likes to make her feel better in hospital and then it turns out it is a 'like farm' for someone harvesting people's data. It's reprehensible to start doing this around a terrorist attack.
"But these are criminals, cybercriminals They are using the data in some cases to apply for credit cards, because if you can harvest someone's Facebook data you have the their mobile phone, their name, date of birth, you have a picture of them. Potentially I could make a fake driving licence.
"That's a very sinister end but it goes all the way back to selling the data onto companies who want to target you for advertising.
"Social media have not done nearly enough to tackle the isue of fake news. Taking out adverts in the papers [to raise awareness about fake news] doesn't begin to deal with this issue.
"Government regulation is where we are heading."
Since November, it has been working with American fact-checkers such as Snopes and Politifact, later expanding to partnerships with non-profits and media companies in Germany and France.
The social network’s efforts to curb fake news followed widespread backlash about the site’s role in proliferating misinformation during the 2016 US presidential election.
In February it emerged Facebook had partnered with eight French news organisations including Le Monde, Libération and Agence France-Presse to help the social media platform to fact-check posts that users flag as fake.
Once flagged, at least two of the media companies have to agree a story is false, it is tagged, and Facebook will issue a warning if someone shares it.
But sources say that the process typically takes between five and seven days, and by that point the offending post could have been shared thousands of times.
"The real antedote to fake news is real news," added Mr Felle. "Social media companies need to do a whole lot more to support real journalism. They need to stop sending traffic to fake news sites, cut off the financial rewards they are giving to fake news companies, and put more financial support to real journalism, especially local journalism.
"It may not be in the social media companies' financial interest, but it is certainly in the public interest. And I think as we go on here, we have to get tougher, government has to get tougher with these companies."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel